Smaller construction firms have been more likely than larger firms to keep their staffs intact throughout the Covid-19 outbreak and economic shutdown. So reveals a new survey published by the Associated General Contractors of America in conjunction with the software company Autodesk. Based on responses to a questionnaire, the survey indicates that 44% of construction firms with revenue in excess of $500 million have either terminated or furloughed employees this year. The number, at 47%, was higher for firms in the $50 million to $500 million range. But the number of terminated or furloughed employees at construction firms posting annual revenues of $50 million or less came in at only 31%. The survey also showed that both Arizona and Colorado construction companies had higher rates of terminating and furloughing workers, at 40% and 38% respectively, compared to a national average of 29%. Texas firms saw 27% of their workers either terminated or furloughed. There were no numbers for companies based in New Mexico. Concurrently, some 72% of companies in Arizona also said they were finding it difficult to find carpenters and equipment operators, with a majority of companies in Colorado, meanwhile, saying they were having a tough time finding carpenters and concrete workers. In Texas, positions for equipment operators and concrete workers have proven the hardest to fill. While a large number of responding companies said they thought they had endured the pandemic economic downturn as well as can be expected, a significant percentage said that although they expected to eventually see a return to a pre-pandemic economy, most thought it won’t happen overnight. In a statement, Ken Simonson, chief economist with the AGC, observed: “These employment numbers are in line with our survey which found a plurality of construction firms expect it will take more than six months before their volume of business matches year-ago levels.” By Garry Boulard
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The City of Farmington has issued a Request for Proposals for a qualified design firm to work on a new irrigation system at the Pinon Hills Golf Course. That 18-hole course, located at 2101 Sunrise Parkway on the northeast side of the city, is one of the most popular golf venues in the southwest and has regularly received praise in such publications as Golf Magazine and Golf Digest. Owned and operated by the city, Pinon Hills was designed by the architectural firm of Finger, Dye, and Spann of Houston and built largely through revenue from a voter-approved gross receipts tax. It was opened in the fall of 1989. Through the years the city, which also runs the nearby Civitan Golf Course, has not only maintained the property but spearheaded such improvement projects as the building of a new pump station in 2014. Now Farmington wants to replace the course’s original irrigation system with a new one, and is asking for a design firm to lay out a plan for the project. The work will include mapping the entire course, and creating a schematic design identifying pumping requirements, pipe distribution, and flow rates. Additional project work will center on the creation of irrigation drawings documenting the property’s annual water usage, sprinkler coverage, and mainline routing. Also required: a design for cart path routing. The RFP has a submission deadline of October 1. By Garry Boulard An important preliminary phase of what could end up being a $500 million new dam and reservoir system may launch later this year in north central Colorado. For years, officials in Aurora and Colorado Springs have been talking about building a massive dam and reservoir system roughly 300 miles to the west of both of those cities. The project would go up near the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, which is a designated U.S. Wilderness Area, and would see the construction of, at minimum, a 20,000 acre-foot reservoir. Both cities, with significantly growing populations needing more water resources, would tap into the water from the new reservoir through a complicated system of tunnels and pipelines for eventual residential use. Earlier this summer comments were accepted by the U.S. Forest Service regarding the possible approval of a drilling initiative, a preliminary geophysical and subservice survey seeing the drilling of ten 150-foot deep bore holes at three sites on federal land. That drilling project, in turn, will determine the feasibility of building the new dam and reservoir system. The larger dam and reservoir project has sparked the opposition of a number of environmental groups including the Sierra Club and the Wild Earth Guardians. Those groups have raised concerns about the negative impact on fish and wildlife that may be caused by building a new dam and reservoir. The driving force behind the project, say Aurora and Colorado Springs officials, is the unprecedented growth of both cities, which have seen their combined populations jump from 637,000 two decades ago to 857,000 today. By Garry Boulard Despite setbacks and extended debate, members of Congress may be on the verge of approving new legislation that will see updated funding for the Paycheck Protection Program. As proposed, the legislation will also include $300 per week federal unemployment benefits, designed to last until the end of the year. The measure will also offer up to $20 billion in assistance for ranchers, farmers, and other producers. Almost certainly, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the latest relief bill will not include a second $1,200 stimulus check. An initial $1,200 check was approved last spring as part of the larger Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Attempts since mid-summer to pass a second check have met with any number of legislative roadblocks. In a statement, McConnell said that members of his caucus are focusing on a “new targeted proposal,” which will center on “the most urgent healthcare, education, and economic issues.” According to reports, the targeted proposal will also include a shield protecting re-opened businesses from lawsuits. McConnell additionally wants $285 billion in funding for the Payroll Protection Program. Also established by the CARES Act, the Payroll Protection Program provides funds for up to 8 weeks of payroll costs for any number of small businesses. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was so far disappointed with the proposed Republican stimulus legislation, remarking, “It does not solve the problem.” “We know that we have to compromise,” the Speaker continued. “We know we have to negotiate in order to reach an agreement.” Democrats have generally supported additional funding for the Payroll Protection Program, which is run out of the Small Business Administration and expired in early August. Between April and August more than 5 million loans have been approved under the payroll protection initiative, comprising roughly $525 billion. By Garry Boulard A two-story research facility built on the Socorro campus of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology may soon be seeing some $10 million in upgrade funding. The Kelly Petroleum Building, on the north side of the school’s campus, was built in 1978 with an extension added to the structure just over a decade ago. The building is a part of the larger Petroleum Recovery Research Center at the institute, which is dedicated to the research support of the state’s giant oil and gas industry. More specifically, the center focuses on improving methods for increased oil and natural gas recovery for oil and gas reservoirs in both New Mexico and elsewhere across the country. The $10 million will come out of the proposed General Obligation Bond C to be decided by New Mexico voters in November. That bond, this time around, is asking for $156.3 million to fund a variety of higher education, public school, and native tribal facility construction and upgrading projects. A nationally recognized program, the Petroleum Recovery Research Center earlier year received a $6.2 million grant from the Department of Energy for its part in creating the Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership of the Western United States, an effort devoted to advancing carbon capture and utilization. By Garry Boulard A Request for Qualifications has been issued for engineering design services for a long-anticipated pedestrian and transit improvement project in Denver. The project, which belongs to both the city and county of Denver, is centered on the reimagining of historic West Colfax Avenue. That avenue, for decades one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city, has long been regarded as a hazard zone for pedestrian traffic and underused when it comes to transit transportation. The project, to be funded by Elevate Denver general obligation bonds passed by local voters in 2017, seeks to both expand and improve West Colfax. The Request for Qualifications tasks an engineering consultant with evaluating and prioritizing the avenue’s planned improvements, while also working in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation’s environmental review process. As planned, the project is expected to include the building of new medians, bus by-pass lanes, and new signals, among other features. The RFQ has a submission deadline of October 9. By Garry Boulard A drive-in theater based in Tiffin, Ohio that was originally built in 1949 may soon be seeing up to $200,000 in upgrades and improvements. In Modesto, California, plans have been announced to bring up to date the Ceres Drive-In theater, which was first opened in the 1940s, but finally closed down at the onset of the Great Recession in 2008. In Florida, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival just opened a drive-in theater at the Pier 66 Hotel, overseeing Port Everglades. New drive-in theater construction as well as the resurrection of existing drive-ins, according to analysts, have a distinctly 2020 feel. The drive-in theater venue, notes USA Today, is enjoying a comeback “as a way to have an in-person viewing experience while adhering to social-distancing guidelines.” Such theaters are largely a staple of the late 1940s and 50s when a post-World War II population explosion combined with a giant increase in car ownership. Between 1947 and 1951 nearly 4,000 such theaters were built, a number that increased yearly into the mid-1960s. Today, according to the United Drive-In Theater Owners Association, based in Stephens City, Virginia, there are just over 200 such operating theaters in the country, comprising a total of nearly 550 screens. While nearly a quarter of such theaters are located in the Midwest and California, states in the West have always enjoyed a thriving drive-in movie presence. The drive-in owners association lists nearly 22 operating theaters today in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Industry analysts believe that the Covid-19 onset has made such entertainment offerings more appealing, with expectations that additional drive-in theaters will be either re-opened or newly built in the next year, once their commercial viability is demonstrated. Work is expected to begin later this year on what is being described as the largest drive-in theater in the world. Hollywood filmmaker Spencer Folmar has announced plans to build a five-screen drive-in that will go up on just over 70 acres in Eustis, Florida. By Garry Boulard A date for the renovation and upgrading of the 80 year-old former First Baptist Church at the corner of Central Avenue and Broadway Boulevard NE in downtown Albuquerque may be drawing near. Earlier this summer the University of New Mexico’s board of regents approved a move to take back the ownership of the downtown property that is now the home of the ambitious and expansive Innovate ABQ complex. That 7-acre site was originally purchased some 6 years ago by the university and then turned over for Innovate ABQ’s varied facility development projects. To date, work at the site has seen the construction of a Lobo Rainforest Building, which went up in 2017, as well as creation of a 13,000 community center belonging to Central New Mexico Community College, among other projects. Now plans are underway for repurposing the First Baptist Church structure, which measures around 71,000 square feet, a project that will be spearheaded by the Lobo Development Corporation, UNM’s real estate arm, and the school’s economic development and technology transfer office, UNM Rainforest Innovations. Evolving plans for the church building have included doing away with a two-story addition to the structure, and replacing it with a tower that would house office space and have a height of 5 stories. The oldest part of the church, according to original and existing plans, would be preserved but upgraded and used for administrative offices, with the spacious interior 400-seat chapel space given over for meetings, among other purposes. According to reports, at least $8 million has been secured for work on the church building, but it is thought that a comprehensive demolition of the structure’s 1970s-era addition and subsequent replacement construction, could have a price tag nearly three times that amount. By Garry Boulard A popular 27-hole GOLF course in metropolitan Albuquerque may soon see new construction. The Paako Ridge Golf Club is located at 1 Club House Drive in the town of Sandia Park, some 25 miles northeast of downtown Albuquerque. Opened in 2000 as an 18-hole golf course, Paako was expanded 5 years later by architect Ken Dye who added another nine holes. The course is one of the top rated of its kind in the southwest and has regularly been praised in such publications as Links Magazine and Golf Digest. Now the most recent owners of the course have announced plans to build on-site lodging as a means of attracting more tourists and increasing revenue. Building plans for the site also include a new spa and swimming pool. The property was purchased in early 2018 by the New York-based firm Alvarez & Marsal, a company that specializes in turnaround management and improving the performance of healthcare, retail, and financial services companies. Shortly after its Paako Ridge purchase, the company, while clearing and re-seeding the course itself, informed Sandia Park area residents of their construction plans. Alvarez & Marsal have also renovated the club’s shaded wooden patio overlooking the course. By Garry Boulard For the third month in a row, the number of people unemployed nationally has declined, suggesting a continuing economic recovery along the lines of past post-recession periods. According to the newest Department of Labor report, the unemployment rate in August fell to 8.4%, a decrease of nearly 2% from July’s 10.2%. Viewed from the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in March, when the unemployment rate soared to nearly 15%, the numbers are even more impressive. Analysts say a gradual re-opening of the economy, particularly in the retail and services sectors, helped drive the new numbers. At the same time, according to the Labor Department, “the advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 22 was 13,254,000, a decrease of 1,238,000 from the previous week’s revised level.” The hospital and leisure sectors saw significant improvements, adding 174,000 new workers. But it was pointed out that these numbers were far less impressive compared to the 621,000 new jobs created in these sectors earlier this summer. The construction industry added 16,000 new jobs in August. Those jobs were primarily in the booming housing sector. At the same time, infrastructure and non-residential building was off by 11,000 jobs. Compared to the country at large, the overall construction industry unemployment rate in August was marginally lower at 7.6%. In a statement, Stephen Sandherr, chief executive officer with the Associated General Contractors of America, remarked: “It is clear that the commercial construction industry will not begin to recover until Washington can enact responsible new recovery measures.” While acknowledging the generally positive jobless trend line, William Spriggs, chief economist with the AFL-CIO, noted that a “key issue going forward in the recovery is the continued drop in the number of workers reporting they are on temporary layoff,” versus the “growing number with permanent job loss, which stood at 3.4 million in August.” While the current unemployment rate is 6.3% lower than what it was this spring, notes the publication Business Insider, “there were still 11.5 million fewer employed in August than in February, before the coronavirus began spreading widely in the U.S.” By Garry Boulard |
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